Israel is losing the battle for hearts and minds

The majority of the 11,000 residents remaining in the still besieged refugee camp spent another 48 hours without proper food, medical care or water, the last being the main problem during the heatwave.

I set off from Jerusalem for Jenin in a minibus with Christina Storm from the US branch of Lawyers Without Borders, a correspondent for Sawt Al Arab, the Voice of the Arabs in Cairo, and two Belgian journalists.

We crawled through heavy traffic in the suburbs of Tel Aviv and then sped along the coast road, going north.

At some distance from the village of Taibeh on the old Israel-West Bank ceasefire line we met up with two other groups which had arrived earlier.

The first consisted of four or five members of the International Solidarity Movement.

They said two of their colleagues coming from Jenin were attempting to reach this spot to collect supplies and equipment needed in Jenin.

They had been fired on.